Reaching for the Stars
by redgrass-and-silvertrees
Summary: When Danny was little, he used to be afraid of heights. At age 14, he had to reconquer his fear when he begins to drift towards the ceiling. One-shot.


**I've been seeking to own the ghost boy since I was 10, not quite there yet.**

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_Headcanon that Danny used to be seriously afraid of heights when he was little so Jack and Maddie would to take him to the top of the Ops Center in order for him to conquer his fear. They showed him that being higher up meant that he was closer to the stars which is initially where his interest in being an astronaut came from._

_Years later when he developed his powers, his fear of heights came back to haunt him (haha yes) and he refused to learn only to realize that by flying he could once again get closer to stars. His first real flight out was the first time he acknowledge that his powers might not be so bad after all._

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Five and a half year old Danny Fenton was terrified of heights. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been afraid but it just seemed to get worse as time went on. It had started with a refusal to climb the jungle gym at school but sometimes even his mother picking him up off the ground would cause him fearfully search for some support. It worried his parents but young Danny didn't see a problem, he'd just avoid going to high places for the rest of his life. See? Problem solved. But his mom apparently hadn't agreed.

One night she interrupted his coloring to tell him she had a surprise place she wanted to take him, _alone_. Danny's interest had been piqued immediately. It wasn't often he got his mom all to himself and even better if his nosy older sister didn't have to come. Danny probably should have been suspicious when she insisted on tying a blindfold on him but the allure of the surprise was too distracting for the young boy. He didn't even protest when she picked him up and securely held him in her arms as they went to the mystery place. Disoriented though he was by the lack of vision, he noticed when a few moments later the cold autumn wind hit his face. As Danny was set on the ground and the blindfold removed, he blanched as he finally saw where they stood.

To him it appeared as if he were on top of the whole world when in reality it was just the roof of the Ops Center his family had recently built. The cold air from this high up seemed to suffocate him, his little limbs quivering in terror at the thought that he might slip and fall to his death. He clung tightly to his mother's leg, squeezing his eyes shut as if that would bring him down to a more manageable height. His mom soothingly ran her fingers through his hair.

"Shh Danny it's okay, I know we're high up but that's nothing to be afraid of. It's true that it can be scary up here but it can also be magical. Would you open your eyes for just a second Sweetie? I want to show you something." Danny cautiously opened one eye to see that his mother had knelt down right in front of him she smiled warmly and pointed up at the sky.

"Look at the stars Danny, can you see them all? They're so far away from us and yet the light still manages to shine on us. Each one of them has a name and some can be put together to form pictures of daring heroes. They're always there Danny, they'll burn out one day but we'll still be able to see their lights for a long, long time." Danny opened up his other eye, caught up in the splendor his mother was describing. "But no matter how much you want them, the stars are so far away that even if you stretched your arms as far as you can you'd never be able to reach them." She turned to him with twinkling eyes.

"But you can still love and appreciate them but that's hard to do on the ground. From your view on the street there are so many things to get in the way of the stars: buildings, trees, lights. But if you go a little higher and get a little bit of equipment you'll be able to get the best view of the stars. There are dangers to being this high up, I know that's why you're afraid, but if you stay that cautious there are some things you will never be able to experience." She reached over and pulled out a small telescope. She began setting it up while Danny extended his arms towards the sky as if trying to prove his mother wrong and pull one down for her.

He never did catch a star that night but he did get to look through the telescope and see the stars even closer. His eyes were wide with amazement at the sight while his mother watched on happily. The stars had never had any special meaning to him before now but suddenly his young mind was blown by the sheer size of the universe he inhabited. Suddenly the stars sang to him, inviting him to come up to their level as if he might catch a glimpse to the meaning of his life. He and his mom sat up on that roof for hours, until he fell asleep in her lap with one tiny hand still grasping the telescope. He woke up the next day with a burning passion to be an astronaut so he could get just a little bit closer to those stars and a realization that, if it brought him closer to outer space, heights weren't so bad after all.

He kept pestering his parents after that to take him up onto the roof which they happily encouraged. He badgered them for bigger and better telescopes, books on astronomy and anything NASA he could get ahold of. They happily fed his enthusiasm and he spent many a night cuddled in-between his parents as they worked through the difficult texts he desired to understand.

Because there was a whole other world hanging just above him, waiting to be explored and discovered and Danny was determined to get there. His enthusiasm continued to grow as he did and even on the advent of his first year of high school, he still found himself on the Ops center with his arms outstretched as if maybe he could finally grab those stars. He smiled to himself as his mother called him down, something about a ghost portal they wanted to show him. As he left, the stars continued to wink at him as if daring him to join them. And he would, one way or another, he was going to chase that light.

XxX

14 and a quarter year old Danny Fenton had once thought he had conquered his fear of heights but he felt that familiar drum of panic clawing in his throat as he felt his feet drift from the floor. It had been two weeks and three days since he'd electrocuted himself half to death, quite literally, and yet his freakish powers continued to terrify him. It wasn't just that he feared his ghost-obsessed parents would turn on him and begin a litany of experiments, though that was a major concern, or that he'd accidently hurt himself or others due to his lack of control which also was a big issue. It was more like he was actually scared of what he had become and what this would mean for him.

Despite what his parents and teachers might believe, Danny wasn't as lazy and apathetic as he appeared. While he couldn't get excited over dead English poets or yet another malfunctioning ghost device, Danny still clung to his dreams of heading to the stars one day. In preparation of this, he spent much of his free time studying what he would need to do to get him there. In the hours, days, weeks following the development of his ghost powers Danny couldn't help but wonder if a moment of stupidity had cost him everything. They didn't let ghostly freaks into the space program after all.

His face blanched as he continued to drift higher and higher. His breathing picked up and he could feel his heart about to beat out of his chest. He knew from his limited experience that panicking only made it worse but he couldn't find that little bit of him that was still rational to tell his annoying powers to stop it. Danny let out a loud gasp as he unexpectedly hit the ceiling. Still shaking, his took a moment to rub his arms in an attempt to try and calm himself down. He wasn't five anymore, heights shouldn't scare him this badly. He closed his eyes and curled himself into a ball as if it would erase the reality that he was hovering in the air. He didn't want this, these crazy powers; he didn't want to be a ghost. That was his parents' thing; Danny just wanted to go to space. He just wanted to reach for the stars.

He gasped lightly as a thought came to him, looking over curiously at his open bedroom window. He frowned and shook his head lightly. No, no way, bad idea. He was trying to get_ rid_ of these crazy powers not make them stronger. No matter what Tucker and Sam said, nothing good could possibly come of them. But the thought persisted and steadily gained ground; he gently floated in the direction of the window. Well until he was free from his ghost half, Danny really ought to learn to control his powers if only for the sake of school. And he needed to know what to do in case of an emergency and he needed to use them. And it was such a beautiful night out.

Quietly, he slipped out the window pointedly keeping his eyes away from the ground which was so far away and instead looked up towards the sky which now seemed just a little bit closer. Without him knowing, a mesmerized smile broke out on his face as he unconsciously began to drift higher. He did have the presence of mind to shift to his ghostly form, if only so the neighbors didn't call his parents and complain that their son was awkwardly floating. Again. He looked down at his now gloved hands, glowing eerily as if they were made of starlight. The small grin on his face widened and he climbed higher into the sky with more purpose noticing that his shaky decent has evened out into a much smoother flight. He breathed in deeply as a grace he had never before possessed in his life came to him and soon he was miles above the city, feeling bolder than ever.

Because why would he waste time on being afraid when he could be getting closer those twinkling lights in the sky he'd spent years admiring from a distance? He smiled and pushed himself even higher feeling that with every little bit he went, his fear fell away from him and back down to the Earth. Because up here, the clouds his only witness and the stars his teasing friends, Danny really could do anything. He gasped, not with fright but unadulterated joy, as he let himself fall from his great allowing the wind to aggressively play with his hair and the chill air to scream in his ears. He gracefully swooped up letting out an unintended laugh as he continued his flight over the sleeping city.

There was no conscious thought on his part, no startling revelations but it was here that Danny began to finally accept the reality of his newfound powers just as, many years before, he had accepted that heights really weren't so bad. Because it was up in the clouds where no mortal could touch him that he realized that the death of one dream could also be the start of a new dream, one even bigger and better than the old one. But that was still far in the future, Danny Phantom had yet to make his first public appearance and dedicate himself to the town's safety. For now it was just a boy, not a human or a ghost, just a scared little boy reaching his arms towards the stars trying to find himself in this crazy world. Because even if the young man never did reach his dreams of flying to outer space, he would always be able to reach for the stars.

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So I had this adorable little idea and it just demanded to be written. I like the idea that Danny used to be afraid of heights and was somehow able to conquer his fears only for it resurface when he got his powers.


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